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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Sales Engineers?
Task-level automation exposure for Sales Engineers: 25 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
56%
weighted task index
25 of 25 tasks scored
Median Salary
$124,900 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
51,790 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+2.8%
employment change
3,800 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 45 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$62,970 – $167,200
Highest medians
Delaware $167,200
Maryland $153,410
Rhode Island $149,750
Washington $147,620
Colorado $139,990
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $62,970
Alaska $71,080
Indiana $74,960
Iowa $83,450
Nebraska $90,140
State figures come from the 41-9031 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 56%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 37%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 22%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 0%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 5/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
25 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 50%
12 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 35%
9 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 15%
4 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Constituent Tasks
#9682 · Core · 62% automatable
Develop, present, or respond to proposals for specific customer requirements, including request for proposal responses and industry-specific solutions.
text generation — Draft proposals; human tailors and owns commitments
Develop proposals for current or prospective customers.
#9680 · Core · 65% automatable
Collaborate with sales teams to understand customer requirements, to promote the sale of company products, and to provide sales support.
text generation — Sharing market information is largely informational
Share sales-related or market information with colleagues.
#9690 · Core · 65% automatable
Create sales or service contracts for products or services.
text generation — Draft contracts; legal terms human-owned
Prepare sales or other contracts.
#9689 · Core · 33% automatable
Visit prospective buyers at commercial, industrial, or other establishments to show samples or catalogs, and to inform them about product pricing, availability, and advantages.
interpersonal — Outreach scripts drafted; live customer contact is human
Demonstrate products to consumers. Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
#9692 · Core · 80% automatable
Keep informed on industry news and trends, products, services, competitors, relevant information about legacy, existing, and emerging technologies, and the latest product-line developments.
information retrieval — AI aggregates and analyzes market data at scale
Monitor market conditions or trends.
#9697 · Core · 68% automatable
Identify resale opportunities and support them to achieve sales plans.
data analysis — AI analyzes market data to identify prospects
Identify potential customers.
#9679 · Core · 54% automatable
Confer with customers and engineers to assess equipment needs and to determine system requirements.
interpersonal — Discussing design features with staff is relational exchange
Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs. Discuss design or technical features of products or services with technical personnel.
#9678 · Core · 40% automatable
Plan and modify product configurations to meet customer needs.
decision support — Process improvements need physical/organizational execution
Implement design or process improvements.
#9686 · Core · 60% automatable
Prepare and deliver technical presentations that explain products or services to customers and prospective customers.
text generation — Generates sales content drafts; human tailors and approves
Develop content for sales presentations or other materials. Explain technical product or service information to customers. Deliver promotional presentations to current or prospective customers.
#9685 · Core · 57% automatable
Recommend improved materials or machinery to customers, documenting how such changes will lower costs or increase production.
decision support — Product recommendations need customer context and persuasion
Explain financial information to customers. Recommend products or services to customers.
#9700 · Core · 78% automatable
Maintain sales forecasting reports.
data analysis — Reports and budgets drafted; human owns assumptions
Prepare financial documents, reports, or budgets.
#9698 · Core · 85% automatable
Document account activities, generate reports, and keep records of business transactions with customers and suppliers.
data analysis — Maintain structured sales records via tools
Maintain records of sales or other business transactions.
#9688 · Core · 68% automatable
Research and identify potential customers for products or services.
data analysis — AI analyzes market data to identify prospects
Identify potential customers.
#9681 · Core · 44% automatable
Secure and renew orders and arrange delivery.
decision support — AI can arrange deliveries; exceptions need human handling
Sell products or services. Arrange delivery of goods or services.
#9696 · Core · 58% automatable
Develop sales plans to introduce products in new markets.
text generation — Plans drafted; human owns positioning and approval
Develop marketing plans or strategies.
#9701 · Core · 18% automatable
Attend trade shows and seminars to promote products or to learn about industry developments.
interpersonal — Attending events requires physical human presence
Attend events to develop professional knowledge.
#9693 · Core · 18% automatable
Attend company training seminars to become familiar with product lines.
interpersonal — Attending events requires physical human presence
Attend events to develop professional knowledge.
#9691 · Core · 45% automatable
Arrange for demonstrations or trial installations of equipment.
interpersonal — Outreach scripts drafted; live customer contact is human
Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
#9699 · Core · 40% automatable
Train team members in the customer applications of technologies.
interpersonal — Sales coaching blends persuasion and live practice
Train sales personnel.
#9683 · Supplemental · 32% automatable
Sell products requiring extensive technical expertise and support for installation and use, such as material handling equipment, numerical-control machinery, or computer systems.
interpersonal — Closing sales requires persuasion and accountability
Sell products or services.
#9694 · Supplemental · 58% automatable
Provide information needed for the development of custom-made machinery.
interpersonal — Discussing design features with staff is relational exchange
Discuss design or technical features of products or services with technical personnel.
#9687 · Supplemental · 70% automatable
Provide technical and non-technical support and services to clients or other staff members regarding the use, operation, and maintenance of equipment.
information retrieval — Product-use advice is largely informational with review
Advise customers on the use of products or services.
#9684 · Supplemental · 45% automatable
Diagnose problems with installed equipment.
decision support — Troubleshooting aided; hands-on diagnosis human
Troubleshoot equipment or systems operation problems.
#9695 · Supplemental · 75% automatable
Write technical documentation for products.
text generation — Operational reports drafted from data
Prepare technical or operational reports.
#9702 · Supplemental · 65% automatable
Report to supervisors about prospective firms' credit ratings.
text generation — Sharing market information is largely informational
Share sales-related or market information with colleagues.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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